From Screen To Toner: Printing Your Presentation
By: Rick and Rebecca Altman
Page 2 of 4
Read Rick Altman's interview here...
Date Created: June 2nd 2007
Last Updated: March 2th 2009
Printing Slides
Formatting Handout Pages
Printing Handouts
Printing Slides
When you print from PowerPoint, you can print a number of ways: one slide per page, two slides per page, or even 3, 4, 6 or 9 slides per page. You can also print slides with speaker notes and outlines.
To print one slide per page:
To print more than one slide per page, see the next sections on formatting and printing handouts.
- Choose File > Print or press Ctrl+P
to display the Print dialog box (Figure 19.6).

Figure 19.6 In the Print dialog box, you can choose to print all slides, the slide currently on the screen, or a specific range of slides.
- Under Print Range, choose All to print the entire
presentation.
or
Choose Current Slide to print just the slide that is currently displayed.
or
To print specific slides, click Slides and enter the range of slides you want to print. Use a hyphen to indicate a range of slides (such as 1-5), and a comma to indicate nonconsecutive slides (1-5, 7, 10).
- In the Print What field, choose Slides.
- At the bottom of the dialog box, click Scale
to fit paper.
- Choose Preview if you want to take a last look
at the output (Figure 19.2). Click Print in the Preview window
to return to the Print dialog box.
- Make sure that your paper or overhead transparencies are loaded in the printer and then click OK.
Tips
- Another way to specify a range of slides
is to first select them in Slide Sorter view. Then, in the Print
dialog box, choose Selection as the print range.
- The Print button on the Standard toolbar bypasses
the Print dialog box-clicking it immediately prints whatever options
you've specified in PowerPoint's Tools > Options on the Print tab.
This is a presentation-specific setting, so be careful that it's not
set to print one slide per page before you go printing your 75-slide
presentation! This button also prints automatically to your default
printer. Because you don't see the Print dialog box, you don't get to
choose a printer.
- When you print a color presentation on a monochrome
printer, PowerPoint automatically converts the colors to shades of gray.
- If you need to print the last slides first, which
helps with collating the presentation on many inkjet printers, input
the slide numbers backwards in the Slides box. For example, 10, 7, 5-1
will print slides 10, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 in that order.
- If you print a color presentation to a black and
white printer and you want white backgrounds instead of dark ones, check
Grayscale or Pure Black and White in the Print dialog.
- Most printers cannot print completely to the edge
of a piece of paper. This is a limitation of the printer, not of PowerPoint.
Formatting Handout Pages
Handout pages are smaller, printed versions of your slides, used to help your audience follow along in your presentation. They can consist of two, three, four, six, or nine slides per page. Before printing, you may want to add titles, page numbers, or borders. You can perform all of these tasks on the Handout Master.
To format handout pages:
- Choose View > Master > Handout Master
or hold down Shift as you click the Slide Sorter View button.
- The Handout Master appears (Figure 19.7).

Figure 19.7 To format and lay out your handout pages, edit the Handout Master.
- On the Handout Master View toolbar, choose the
icon that represents the number of slides you want to appear on each
handout page.
- Make any of the following changes:
- To add text that you want to appear
on each page (such as the presentation title or page number),
choose the View > Header and Footer command.
- Add any desired background graphics.
- To add text that you want to appear
on each page (such as the presentation title or page number),
choose the View > Header and Footer command.
- When you are finished, click Close on the Handout Master View toolbar.
Tips
- The three-per-page layout includes lines
on the right half of the page for the audience to take notes next
to each slide.
- Any headers or footers you add do not appear
on the Handout Master; you see them only on the printed handout page.
- If you want to use a word processor to fine-tune
handouts or add text, you can choose File > Send To > Microsoft
Word.
- The slide images cannot be resized or moved on
the handout master. If this is necessary, use File > Send To > Microsoft
Word.
Printing Handouts
After you have formatted the Handout Master, you are ready to print your handouts. Figure 19.8 shows an example of a printed handout page.

Figure 19.8 This handout page has six slides.
To print handout pages:
- Choose File > Print.
- The Print dialog box appears.
- Choose a print range.
- Keep in mind that the number of slides you want printed and the
number of pages that will be printed are probably two different
things.
- In the Print What list box, choose Handouts.
- In the Slides Per Page field, change the
number if desired.
- If you've chosen four or more handouts
per page, select Horizontal or Vertical.
- Choose Preview to review your work. Click
Print in the Preview window to return to the Print dialog box.
- Click OK.
Tip
- PowerPoint automatically places borders around each slide on the printed handout. To eliminate borders, remove the checkmark from the Frame Slides box in the Print dialog box.
Altman/Altman, MICROSFT OFFICE POWERPT 2003 WIN: VISUAL QUICKSTART, ©2003 Reproduced by permission of Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Peachpit Press. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
